Jimmy (story)
The tugs are delighted to see Jimmy return to the Star Fleet to help with the building of a new railroad bridge. Ten Cents is especially happy as he hasn't seen Jimmy in a while. However, the building of the bridge is haulted when Orpheus is spotted lurking around old abandoned piers. Instead of building, the city is placed on alert, searching for Orpheus. One night, Jimmy spots Orpheus enter an old warehouse that has been abandoned for years. He decides to investigate. But when he enters the warehouse, he is immediately hijacked by Orpheus, and placed on an old dry dock as hostage. Upon discovering Jimmy's disappearance, Captain Star hires a tug known as Mekker to take over Jimmy's duties. Mekker is German, and seems very kind. Ten Cents trusts him a lot, despite the fact he doesn't really replace Jimmy. Jimmy is sleeping one night when he is awoken by Orpheus. Orpheus shows him a microphone that seems to connect to the voice of the leader of OGPU. The leader tells Jimmy that even if he is let out, the leader will never be arrested; he'd rather blow himself up. The next morning Mekker returns from his night hours and reports he saw Billy Shoepack setting bombs around Lucky's Yard. The Coast Guard immediately arrest Billy. While at the jail port, Ten Cents speaks with Billy. Billy replies that he did not set any bombs; he was up river on a construction job all day and night! He adds that he would be able to identify any bomb that he made. When Ten Cents takes him to the spots where the bombs were, and shows him the bombs, Billy shakes his head; he couldn't possibly build a complex bomb like this! Though he doesn't want to believe it, Ten Cents has a suspicion Mekker has been setting the bombs. He and Emily follow Mekker during the night duties. They watch Mekker enter the old warehouse, and they follow him in. They are immediately captured by Orpheus, who puts them in a regular dock. Mekker appears, and explains that he is the ring leader of OGPU; he intends to blow up major cities the of the world and keep everyone on edge. He explains that he was the one that set Orpheus loose, and the one who had Dino Mighter set the bombs. He intends to make sure that OGPU continues to stay at large until his death. He decides that he shall let the Star Tugs go, but by the time they get the authorities over, the whole warehouse shall be gone in a big explosion. Ten Cents points out that Orpheus will be in the warehouse; Orpheus replies that he intends to work for OGPU to his end. Jimmy is in the meantime fiddling with a bomb. As they leave the warehouse, Orpheus spots the bomb. He begins to chase Jimmy. Ten Cents and Emily tell Jimmy to get out of the warehouse, but Jimmy simply smiles, setting the bomb. Ten Cents and Emily sail out as fast as they can as the warehouse blows up in a terrific explosion. The next morning, the Star Fleet are clearing up the wreckage of the warehouse when they find Jimmy underneath several pieces of metal. His entire hull and deck is gone, and his smoke stack has been blown up. Burke and Blaire declare him as scrap metal; Captain Star, however, think he can still be of use. They also find the remains of Orpheus, who was blown up immediately in the explosion. Mekker, on the other hand, survived, and has to live to stand trial. Two months later, after extensive repairs at Lucky's Yard and several patches from The Red Cross, Jimmy is given the chance to choose what to be rebuilt as; a tugboat or another kind of boat. Jimmy chooses to be a tugboat that is used as a tour boat. He has his own tugboat company called "Tug Tours Inc." and occasionally helps the tugs from time to time. After Mekker is sentenced to jail for the rest of his tug life, Ten Cents asks Emily if she thinks that OGPU is still at large. "Well, maybe not, but I have a bad feeling that in the future we'll have even more powerful explosives that'll be made by ourselves to destroy others," replies Emily. "Nah, what are the chances of that?" Page by User:TenCents Category:OGPU Category:Story